President John Kennedy put his brother, Attorney General Robert Kennedy, in charge of the U.S. government's secret plan to assassinate Fidel Castro and overthrow his government. This explosive chronicle also contends that RFK cut private deals with the Mafia which solidified the mob's ties with the Central Intelligence Agency. Furthermore, the authors charge, the CIA was involved in at least a dozen attempts on Castro's life through 1987, and the agency recruited thousands of anti-Castro Cubans for military adventurism and political and economic sabotage. Hinckle, founding editor of Ramparts, and Turner, an ex-FBI agent, weave a complex narrative featuring key players like CIA spy E. Howard Hunt, active in assassination attempts on Castro, and mobster Johnny Roselli, whom the CIA drafted to kill the Cuban dictator. First published in 1981 as The Fish Is Red , the book has been updated to include a powerful introductory chapter detailing George Bush's dirty tricks from Iran-Contra through recent schemes to revive the war on Castro. A timely expose, it supports current speculation that the murderers of JFK were part of a CIA-Mafia hit team. (Nov.)